


Gallant Witches

by Cocojoe



Category: Beyond Witches Project, Strike Witches
Genre: F/F, Gen, Major Character Injury, Major Original Character(s), Military Jargon, Minor Original Character(s), Sad and Happy, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22748560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocojoe/pseuds/Cocojoe
Summary: Over 80 Years ago, there was a war...Well, us humans went to war with eachother all the time. We engaged in petty conflicts over ideology and resources, religion and misunderstandings. Nations rose and fell, as was the natural state of history.But this war was different.From another world, the sleeping Neuroi were awoken in Egypt, wreaking havoc across an unprepared earth.Yet Humanity resisted fiercely, as in 1945, the 501st and 2nd JFWs gave hope to the world, and united them as brothers and sisters through the shared suffering of the war.And thanks to them it seemed that in the end, the world was at peace, and that it would last forever.How foolish we were.Only a few years ago, Humanity was once more brought to the brink of destruction. Returning from the skies even stronger than before after being thought long gone, the world was left nearly defenseless against them.Defenseless that was, except for the girls whose song even now still goes unheard. The ones who took up the mantle of their predecessors.This is the story of merely some of them,The so-called 'Gallant Witches'.
Kudos: 2





	Gallant Witches

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Every chapter will be fully illustrated, but as these take time, I'll put down illustration progress for each chapter.
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**DATE: NOVEMBER 21ST, 20??**  
**LOCATION: [REDACTED], [REDACTED]**

  
“And what of the peace?”

“...Peace?” Her response had a harsh tone. She sat in a chair in the middle of the dimly lit room. The sole light source, a lamp, sat behind her, bathing her in deep shadow. Bottles of various alcoholic beverages were strewn about the table before her, most empty, a few never opened. She had her leg crossed over her knee, and through the shadows I could faintly make out a black leather military boot, with a long white sock clinging tightly to her leg. Her hands, fingers interlaced, were also clad in black leather. She tilted her head upwards slowly, presumably searching her memories for an answer to my question. She squeezed her hands together as if for comfort, her body language showing that she seemed to have forgotten what peace truly meant. She let out a long, nostalgic sigh and looked back at me as if to say ‘I have an answer.’ Her body loosened up and I couldn’t tell if she was looking at me, or through me. A shiver ran down my spine. Something about her set me on edge, as if I was staring at a ghost. I couldn’t quite explain it, but I knew that there was more to this stern-voiced, alcoholic woman than I had first assumed.

“Hand me that will you?” she asked, pointing towards the ground next to me.

“Huh?” I replied, following her finger to the half empty bottle next to my chair. “Uh...sure,” I put my note book down and picked up the bottle. It read Jasmine Daniels Malt Whiskey. I passed her the bottle.

“Thanks,” she said, popping the cap off and pouring herself a shot. She then proceeded to throw the glass back and down the liquor. “Want one?” she asked, offering me the bottle. 

“No thanks,” I replied as I picked up my notebook and shuffled back into my usual writing position. “Suit yourself,” she shrugged as she poured herself a second glass. She set the glass down with a loud thud that reverberated through the room, but this time she didn’t drink. She leaned back in her chair and stared at the full glass.   
  
“Peace…” she uttered that one word again with the same harshness. “What an odd thing to ask.”

She leaned forwards, features still heavily hidden by shadow, pointing a finger at me. “Hey...” she said. I felt almost like a child who was caught stealing cookies. I braced myself for whatever might come from her lips next, as I sat there still holding my notebook.

“Did you know that Humanity has three states of being?”

She set the glass down, and curled her hand into a ball. 

“The first is armed conflict...”

“The second is the celebration of its’ conclusion,”

As she listed these ‘three states’ to me, a finger flashed out of her fist whenever she listed them. I wondered just what this girl thought of humanity for a moment.

She paused momentarily.

“And the third is the word that you call ‘peace’, the futile hope that everything will be okay.”

“Those are the three.”

The woman smiled and shrugged, as if she had no care in the world about the consequences of conflict. Shivers ran down my back. Had I been wrong to seek this woman out? Had I been wrong to inquire about this womans’ life experiences in the 511th? The others had turned me down, or were dead. Perhaps those alive had good reason to.

She lifted the shot glass from the table as if to say ‘Cheers’, before downing it in one go. She then poured herself another drink and leaned back in her chair. She sat there for a notably long period of time, contemplatively sloshing her drink around. I took this moment to look around the room, and found a surprising lack of cigarettes for an alcoholic war veteran. 

  
“You want to hear the ‘heroic’, ‘chivalrous’ story of those witches you’ve heard so much about?” She asked sarcastically, glancing back towards me.

“The ‘Saviors of Hispania’, the ‘Knights in Shining Strikers’? The ‘Gatekeepers of the Mediterranean’ who destroyed that Neuroi vessel? Have you really sought me out exclusively for that purpose? To waste more of your precious time for me to tell of mine? Couldn’t you get some war stories out of any other worthless war veteran?”

I nodded quietly, slowly placing my pen down onto the first page of my notebook, anticipating that she might tell her story. She sighed, finished her drink, and set the glass gently on the table.

"Very well. But understand that what you are about to hear is the truth, The full truth. With none of that military sugarcoating that fills those so called “declassified” documents. And it will be more honest than any of those personal accounts you might have read, and more insightful than whatever those blokes at MI6 or the CIA published on the matter. Even though I, by ‘military protocol’ am not allowed to tell you this… You’re about to hear the story of the girls who fought alongside me in the now-’famous’ 511th JFW, That of misfits, girls of all ages, coupled together in a moments notice out of a hurried panic. Those girls who became sisters in a chaotic war no one of them asked to be a part of. The story of the squadron I commanded and the scarring experiences of the war.”

I observed as she seemed to muse to herself for a bit, lost in thought as she spoke.

“Now, where did it all begin? Ah, yes, I remember…”

“On a beautiful morning like any other, the bright orange sun began to rise over the horizon…”

  
_“Peace never lasts.”_

  
**DATE: APRIL 15TH, 2021**  
**LOCATION: MADRID [511TH JFW HOME BASE], HISPANIA**

“...What a beautiful sunrise.”

17 year old Squadron Commander Alice Webley thought out loud as she stood in her new office, arms crossed, looking out a rather massive window. It was a rather large wood-paneled office. Two large bookshelves sat on either side of a large fireplace, opposite the door. Red carpets, paintings, and a mahogany desk sat atop a red carpet sat in the center. The warmth of the orange light bathed the room behind her in a beautiful aurora. Outside, the light danced through the clouds like a dove. It had been three days since she had arrived in Hispania and she wasn’t quite used to these sunrises, especially when compared to the colorless early mornings, and dark nights of Brittania. Alice continued to stare out in awe, ignoring the orange eyed and slightly scarred woman that looked back at her through the window.

"Such extravagant sights this early can only be the mercy of a bad omen." A voice came from beside her. Alice glanced over at this new voice, not breaking her posture of a seasoned soldier. The girl who stood beside her was her long-time friend and personal maid, Elly. Unlike the old teenaged master, Elly was a young, 16 year old girl, who kept her long, black hair tied in a tight, curled ponytail. She was dressed in a gothic French maid’s uniform, with a dark-yellow and white theme, frilled hem and sleeves, a brown corset and a black ribbon over her chest.

The trickling sound of liquid echoed subtly in the room, as Elly poured coffee into a massive mug. Elly looked towards her master. “Your Coffee?” Elly asked casually, as she offered the mug to “the savior of her world”.

“I thought I told you to bring me liquor in the morning.” Alice stated bluntly.

“Just because it’s called a Sunrise Cocktail, doesn’t mean you have to drink it at sunrise.” Elly retorted, sighing.

“But booze tastes so much better than your bitter, creamy bean-milk!” She exclaimed with a pout.

“Perhaps the same could be said of all bitter things,” Elly proposed, smiling.

“Perhaps.” Alice responded with a sigh, closing her eyes. “Eating Military chocolate for years made me question why people like bitterness.”

“I know your tastes, so I added some sugar and whipped cream. I also have some sugarcubes on me, If you still think it’s too bitter.” Elly nodded.

“I still would have liked some booze, though.” Alice grumbled in response as she took the coffee from Elly’s hands. She glanced back outside as she sipped from the mug, closing her eyes. “It’s hot… Just like the sun over here.” Elly opened her eyes.

“Don’t you have more pressing matters to attend to, rather than ogling over the sun?” Elly inquired, crossing her arms. “The past two days may have been similar, but today we really don’t have the time.”

Alice’s eyes narrowed out the window. “I guess the sun looks prettier if you really pay attention to it.”

"The ability to appreciate beauty is one of the things that makes Humanity so unique." Elly stated almost habitually, eyes trailing upwards. Her gaze returned to Alice as her eyes narrowed. “But Alice, do the _Neuroi_ care for beautiful things?”

“The Neuroi.” Repeated Alice. Her fist balled up as she took another sip and her brows furrowed, eyes jamming shut as she did so. Lowering the mug to chin-level, her eyes reopened. “...I still can’t believe it. I thought we killed the last of those bastards in 1975. Sure, there were some stragglers, but we took ‘em all out by 2019. I was the one to fire the last shot! So why are they here?! Why now?!” Alice huffed a bit.

“If something is not alive, can it truly be killed?” Elly asked curiously, placing her finger to her lips and leaning her head back. “We’ve learned that the Neuroi are essentially robots with destructive programming. Maybe those initial Neuroi we fought were pawns in a larger game? Scouts, is what I’m thinking.”

“And these are the real ones? Well, that’s not unsettling at all…” Alice said, proceeding to take yet another sip with her eyes closed.

“Hardly,” Replied Elly as she moved behind Alice, running her fingers through her hair and beginning to tie it. “The most unsettling part was that the real ones managed to actually be a threat… The 502nd is buying us time to consolidate our power, but soon you and your squadron will be put to the test.”

“Aren’t all the Joint Fighter Wings in disarray, right now? They were all initially disbanded after ‘75, seeing as the UN never really saw any use in them, especially after the creation of… of…” Alices’ words trailed off as she glanced upwards. Her eyes wandered off again.

“Gungnir?” Elly answered, finished with tying Alices’ hair. She had done it into a ponytail, beginning at the bottom of her skull. “The network of huge railguns built to fight off potential Neuroi attacks?” 

“Yeah that’s the one... The one that was destroyed when the Neuroi came back in 2020.” Alice finished, her eyes narrowing. “Put up one hell of a fight, though. The only reason it went down was the chunks falling from the sky were disguised Neuroi. Once active, they disabled Gungnir.” Alice took another sip, closing her eyes, breathing out, and reopening her eyes. “Then, everything went to hell…”

“You’ll probably need this.” Elly stated as she inched towards Alice, dropping more sugarcubes into the coffee. “I know you’d prefer liquor during times like these, so perhaps the coffee I made was still too bitter.”

‘Yeah… Thanks, Elly.” Alice huffed. She drank from her mug, her eyes widening slightly for a moment. “Huh, this isn’t bad. Granted, I’d still prefer booze, but this is fine, too.” She took another sip from her coffee.

“You should go and greet the new witches when they arrive, Alice.” Elly suggested, raising a finger. “Even if they’ll be allowed to run off and do whatever they please, for the day they should still familiarize themselves with their leading combat officer.” she stated matter-of-factly. Her hands were joined together in front of her.

“The new witches…” Alice frowned. She turned to face Elly. “New? As in green? Like the reservists?”

“No,” Elly responded curtly, shaking her head. “The new reservists are being properly trained up at the Gibraltar Citadel. They won’t let a repeat of Burgos happen again.” Her eyes shifted to the side. Alice drank from her coffee whilst Elly spoke, reopening her eyes. Her head turned to glance back out the window.

“Burgos. Damn it.. Why’d you have to remind me of that?” Alices’ eyes narrowed, and she furrowed her brow. She clenched her fist tightly. “Every time I think of that, I feel my blood boil.”

“As a certain Orussian general put it: ‘One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic’ " Elly quoted. She looked back towards Alice, with a Steeled expression. “At least they managed to fulfil their objective." She crossed her arms. “A lot more lives would have been lost if those witches hadn’t fought and died, whether they knew it or not.”

_“But they’re still dead!”_

Alice furiously turned to face Elly, slamming her foot down, her brow furrowed. Elly recoiled, eyes widening. She raised her finger and opened her mouth, but Alice continued to yell. “93% loss rate, Elly! Those are the statistics! 650,000 confirmed MIA, and 216,000 KIA! I’ve read the files, they could have withdrawn at any time, but they didn’t! You wanna’ know why?! Because that lunatic psycho General Morales thought he’d find ‘glory’, if he just... Threw away the lives of children! They only knew how to fire paintball guns!” Alices’ fist was shaking as Elly listened silently. “And yet, those bastards decided to conclude that the casualties were… were… acceptable?! How could someone still be so high-and-mighty after that?” Alice practically roared out.

They stood in silence, eyes locked. Alices’ brow returned to normal, taking a long gulp this time and turning back to the window. “You can still feel the effects of what happened in the south. Even in Gibraltar families still mourn over their daughters. War to them probably felt like a show on TV. Burgos changed all of that.” She sighed. “No one ever wants to experience the pain of losing a loved one.” she stated.

“There’s a reason why animals protect their young so fiercely.” Elly claimed, her eyes closed. “That’s why we fight, isn’t it? Even if Morales’ actions were improper, you can still fight for others. That’s what I was going to say.”

“I suppose… You’re right, Elly.” Alice sighed. “It still bothers me, though. Those kids were only 12-14, am I not supposed to feel remorse?”

“I don’t feel great, whenever I discuss these types of issues, but...” Elly opened her eyes, and glanced out the window.“Only the witches specified in the files will be arriving, you won’t have to worry about any reservists coming in. They at least have some proper training, and won’t be as helpless as the witches that died at Burgos.”

“What does it matter if they are reservists or not? Most of them don’t have combat experience anyways. They’re just magical prodigies who volunteered.” Alice placed a hand on her hip. “Hell, what really happened at Burgos was likely hidden from them.” She paused to think. “As far as they know, they’re coming here to save the world.”

“Well in that case, it is your job to make sure that dream comes to fruition.” Elly concluded. She closed her eyes and joined her hands together. “You were hand-selected to lead this squadron. No matter how much you try to deny it, Brittania’s high command saw something in you. Maybe it was your track record? Or your tendency to get the job done? Perhaps it was your willingness to do the work other witches loathe?” She paused and glanced back towards Alice. “More likely, it was your noble heart, and that protective nature of yours.” Elly raised a finger.“There’s always a reason for everything, Alice."  
  
“Yeah...” Alice sighed. She glanced back towards Elly, holding out her mug. “May I have another, please?”

“Very well,” Elly smiled. She took the mug and refilled it. 

“She told me that I shouldn’t pour too much hot stuff in there.” Her head moved backwards. “Otherwise, it’d end up “hotter than an Oceanic Volcano.” ”

“Avis…” Elly’s smile vanished. “I remember her. You two were like sisters, weren’t you?”  
  
“We were… Before...” Alice trailed off, sadness showing on her face.

“It wasn’t your fault, Alice. We both know that once she was declared MIA, she most likely perished…” She turned her body. “There was nothing we could do to find her, despite months of searching.” Elly bluntly stated. She walked back over to Alice, and handed her the mug.

“Thanks, Elly.” Alice said as she took the mug. “You’re right, though. That was long ago, and I don’t really have the time to think about her, right now. Just imagining what she’d say to me…”

“I’m glad you understand, Alice.” Elly claimed, smiling nodding once. She glanced out the window. “It’s about time those girls started to arrive. Are you going to greet them?” She looked to Alice, hands joined together.

“Someone has to.” Alice responded curtly. She walked to her desk, ignoring the computer on top of it and pulled out a file, tucking it under her arm. She turned to face Elly. “I’m gonna head down to the tarmac. Do you think you could tidy the place up in preparation? I want us to put our best foot forwards, here.”

“Of course, Alice.” Elly responded with a smile. She curtsied towards Alice.

“Thanks… I’ll be around.” Alice made her way to the door. She turned the doorknob.

“And Alice,” Elly began. Her eyes were shut in contemplation.

“Hm?” Alice raised an eyebrow at Elly. Elly opened her eyes.

“If no one is there to see it, is a sunrise really beautiful?”

  
**< GALLANT WITCHES EPISODE 0: END> **


End file.
